International conference on cooperatives explores key issues facing workers and enterprises in the changing world of work

The ILO jointly organized the International Conference on Cooperatives in the Changing World of Work (CCWW) from April 29 to May 1, 2018 in Kozhikode, Kerala.

News | 07 May 2018
Simel Esim, ILO COOP Unit Head presenting at a panel
The conference was jointly organized by the ICA Asia and Pacific Unit of the ICA-EU Partnership on Co-operatives in Development: People Centered Businesses in Action, along with Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society, the International Labour Organization (ILO), ICA Domus Trust and the Government of Kerala, with knowledge support from CICOPA (ICA’s Sectoral Organization on Industrial & Service Co-operatives).

The conference aimed at triggering potential synergies in development co-operation; building partnerships; instituting a regional network; and tackling priorities, policies and specificities affecting cooperatives in the changing world of work. Held at the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode campus the conference featured presentations from researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and international development agency representatives. The conference also provided an opportunity for the participants to provide inputs into the ILO Inception Report for the Global Commission on the Future of Work.

Bharti Birla from ILO New Delhi
Representatives from ILO COOP, ILO New Delhi and partners were at the conference. In the opening session, Simel Esim (COOP Unit Head) reflected on the links between cooperatives, economic growth and decent work, as articulated under Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG8). She noted the action areas for cooperatives around the targets and indicators for SDG8. She underlined the need for stronger representation of the cooperative movement in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development discussions at the national and regional as well as international levels. She also pointed to the dearth of reliable and comparable data on cooperatives as a challenge to tracking progress. She noted that international guidelines of statistics on cooperatives are needed to assess the impact of cooperatives and to conduct comparative analyses on the advantages and disadvantages of different governance models.

During the first panel on the future of work, which was conducted as a question and answer session Ms Esim provided examples of cooperative responses to the “mega drivers of change” – technology, demography, climate change and economic globalization. She also underlined the potential of cooperatives to make an impact, given the global quest for new forms of business and growth models.

(from the left) Sonia George from SEWA Kerala, Simel Esim from ILO, Namya Mahajan from SEWA Cooperative Federation
ILO and its partners also took part in a session exploring the different pathways of formalizing the informal economy through cooperatives. During the panel, chaired by Ms Esim, Hyungsik Eum from CICOPA presented the findings from the second edition of the cooperatives and world of work report pertaining the ways cooperatives are engaged in formalizing informal economy. Namya Mahajan from the SEWA Cooperative Federation presented the findings from a joint study with the ILO on the experiences of twelve SEWA supported cooperatives. Sonia George from SEWA Kerala presented on the work of the SMSS (Swashreya Mahila Sewa Sangam), a women’s collective of domestic workers that includes skills upgrading training for its members as one pathway toward formalization. Ms Bharti Birla from ILO New Delhi office shared their experiences of working with cooperatives in the subregion and challenges and opportunities pertaining to replication and scale.

A cooperative hackathon (a sprint-like event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers, project managers, and others, collaborate intensively on software projects) focused on creation of usable software for cooperatives and address socio-economic & environmental issues was organized through the conference.

During the closing panel of the conference which was chaired by Ms Esim, ILO Asia Pacific Regional Office representative Santosh Kumar presented a common basic understanding document which outlines the key issues and recommendations emerging from this conference on the changing world of work.